Teaching and assessment issues in physics major classes

Teaching and assessment issues in physics major classes ~ Looking for Innovative Approaches How to know before exams whether advanced concepts comprehended in modern physics classes? The example of mass, time, and space: Letters to future and past self. How does one account for progress in a complex teaching situation (Modern Physics Lab – Writing Skills, Critical Thinking, Presentation Skills, Computer Skills or, in other words: COM 3 Creative Writing in Statistical Mechanics.

Approaching and Digesting Difficult Concepts Letter To Past and Future Self

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How To Assess Complex Achievement Rubrics Modern Lab: Standards standard based teaching equipment seminar oral prelabs oral final exam standard based i. a. standard based lab reports

Standard Based Grading Using Bloom's Taxonomy Level 1 Knowledge: Fact Level 2 Comprehension: understanding Application: solve problems Level 3 Analysis: Synthesis: minimize, elaborate compare, examine, distinguish, infer, conclude design, estimate, predict, solve, discuss, modify, Students earn one level at a time and have to revisit each standard.

Standard Based Grading Examples: categories experiment lab skills safety skills report language metrics paragraph design oral/math/ theory preparation audience COM 3 drafts IT usage data fitting random error systematic error chapter design chapter integration confidence delivery math jargon oral exam peer group mastery apparatus deadlines

Standard Based Grading Examples: earning a category standard Example 1 subcategory – basic lab skills surety in basic operations awareness of measurement range awareness of measurement conditions awareness of alternative measurements Example 2 subcategory- chapter integration effectiveness fluency consistency relation to introduction chapter Example 3 subcategory- audience ability to use jargon with peers/instructors ability to be abstract ability to come up with examples ability to negotiate interaction in lab group

Creative Writing in Stat Mech – assessing students outside their comfort zone At absolute zero temperature theory of Thermodynamics leads to a number of paradoxa. Students do a creative writing hw interpreting the exotic paradoxa for our three example systems in the regular course work: Critique two of the paradoxes in the context of one of our text’s three main example systems: Monatomic ideal gas, two state paramagnet, or Einstein Solid. Compare the two paradoxes at zero degree as they relate to relevant physical quantities in that context (e. g. specific heat, chemical potential, pressure, etc. ). It may not sound like much, but for physicists this is extreme fiction : -)

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